Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 April 2022
243. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the status of the acceleration of the roll-out of the National Broadband Plan in 2022 to catch-up with the recently missed revised target of 60,000 homes by the end of January 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19440/22]
View answer244. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of homes that have been passed to date by county in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19441/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 243 and 244 together.
The National Broadband Plan (NBP) State led Intervention will be delivered by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) under a contract to roll out a high speed and future proofed broadband network within the Intervention Area which covers 1.1 million people living and working in the almost 560,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms along with some 679 schools.
Despite the unprecedented challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, NBI has made steady progress on delivery of the new high speed fibre broadband network under the NBP. I am advised by NBI that as of 15 April 2022, over 319,000 premises have now been surveyed and almost 172,000 premises are under construction or complete across 26 counties. I am further advised that almost 64,000 premises are now available to order or pre-order a high-speed broadband connection across 22 counties, with over 47,100 premises passed across 19 counties and available for immediate connection. In addition to the premises completed, build is underway on over 124,600 premises, demonstrating the project is reaching scale. NBI has confirmed that over 9,800 premises have been connected, as of 15 April, and this is increasing on a daily basis. To date, the level of connections is in line with projections and some areas are exceeding targets.
In line with a remedial plan to address Covid-19 related delays which was agreed with my Department in April 2021, following detailed engagement, NBI had expected to have almost 60,000 premises passed by the end of January 2022. Challenges were encountered with the build process and also as a result of Covid-19 impacts. NBI continues to work with its network and build partners to address all issues as they arise. The Department has worked with NBI to agree an Updated Interim Remedial Plan (UIRP) which recalibrates the targets for 2022 to take account of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and other delays to the Programme, with a revised target of 102,000 premises passed by the end of January 2023 (Contract Year 3).
It remains the ambition of the Government to rollout the National Broadband Plan State led intervention as quickly as possible, and to achieve this NBI will continue its focus on addressing the delays which have arisen and ensuring that the build programme gets back on track and is building momentum.
